Microsoft Azure Stack is an extension of Azure—bringing the agility and innovation of cloud computing to your on-premises environment and enabling the only hybrid cloud that allows you to build and deploy hybrid applications anywhere. We bring together the best of the edge and cloud to deliver Azure services anywhere in your environment.

Azure SQL Database is a fully managed relational database with built-in intelligence supporting self-driving features such as performance tuning and threat alerts. Microsoft performs all the patching and updating of the code base, and manages the underlying infrastructure for you, so you can save time and resources. With high SQL Server compatibility, you can also migrate your databases to SQL Database Managed Instance without changing your apps.

Built-in high availability

Help ensure business continuity without extra configuration, replication, or database costs.

Explore all SQL Database pricing options

Find the performance and pricing that fit your workload.

SQL Database Managed Instance provides the broadest SQL Server engine compatibility and native virtual network support so you can migrate your SQL Server databases to SQL Database Managed Instance without changing your apps. It combines the rich SQL Server surface area with the operational and financial benefits of an intelligent, fully managed service. Managed Instance is your best destination when migrating a large number of existing SQL Server databases from on-premises or virtual machines to SQL Database.

Region:

Currency:

Display pricing by:

US government entities are eligible to purchase Azure Government services from a licensing solution provider with no upfront financial commitment, or directly through a pay-as-you-go online subscription.

Important—The price in R$ is merely a reference; this is an international transaction and the final price is subject to exchange rates and the inclusion of IOF taxes. An eNF will not be issued.

Azure Germany is available to customers and partners who have already purchased this, doing business in the European Union (EU), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and in the United Kingdom (UK). It provides data residency in Germany with additional levels of control and data protection. You can also sign up for a free Azure trial.

2The pricing above for Managed Instance Business Critical reflects general availability and goes into effect on December 1, 2018. Usage prior to December 1, 2018 will be billed at the preview rates.

3Reserved pricing will be available starting December 3, 2018.

Compute is provisioned in virtual cores (vCores). A vCore represents a logical CPU offered with an option to choose between compute generations.

Storage

Storage

Price

First 32 GB/month

Included

Additional storage*

$-/GB

Backup GB/month**

$-

*Storage is available in increments of 32 GB up to 8 TB.**Backup storage will not be charged until April 1, 2019.

Active geo-replication (opt-in feature)

Active geo-replication creates up to four online (readable) secondaries in any Azure region. Secondary active geo-replication databases are priced at 100 percent of primary database prices. The cost of geo-replication traffic between the primary and the online secondary is included in the cost of the online secondary. Active geo-replication is available for all database tiers.

Dev/Test pricing available

Dev/test pricing is available for Visual Studio subscribers looking to run development and testing workloads, individually or as a team. Active Visual Studio subscribers can take advantage of a wide range of discounts when using an Azure subscription based on a dev/test offer. Learn more about dev/test offers and Visual Studio subscriptions.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Azure SQL Database Managed Instance pricing

Managed Instance allows for scaling compute and storage independently. Customers pay for compute measured in vCores, storage and backup measured in gigabytes (GB), and number of IOs consumed.

Managed Instance has two price options:

License included: Excludes Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server . This option is for customers who choose not to apply their existing SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance to Managed Instance.

Base rate: Reduced price that includes Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server. Customers can opt into this price by using their SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance.

A virtual core (vCore) represents the logical CPU available for your server, offered with a choice between generations of hardware. For servers created using Gen4 vCores, the vCores are based on Intel E5-2673 v3 (Haswell) 2.4 GHz processors. For servers created using Gen5 vCores, the vCores are based on Intel E5-2673 v4 (Broadwell) 2.3 GHz processors.

Managed Instance is billed on a predictable, hourly rate based on the service tier, provisioned compute in vCores, provisioned storage and backup in GB per month, and number of IOs consumed. Backup storage up to 100 percent of your total database storage is included; beyond this, you’ll be billed in GB per month and number of IOs consumed in a month.

Note: For a limited period, until June 30, 2018, the backup charges and IO charges will be free.

The Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server helps you maximize the value from your current licensing investments and accelerate your migration to the cloud. Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server is an Azure-based benefit that enables you to use your SQL Server licenses with active Software Assurance to pay a reduced rate (“base rate”) on SQL Database. Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server is available to all vCore-based options: SQL Database Managed Instance, Single Database and Elastic Pool. You may apply this benefit even if the SKU is active but note the base rate will be applied from the time you select it in the portal. No credit will be issued retroactively.

You can activate the Azure Hybrid Benefit via the Azure Portal by attesting you have sufficient active licenses with Software Assurance. The Azure Hybrid Benefit works as follows:

If you have Standard Edition per core licenses with Software Assurance, you can get one vCore in the general purpose option for every one license core you own on-premises.

If you have Enterprise Edition per core licenses with Software Assurance, you can get one vCore in the business critical option (coming soon) for every one license core you own on-premises. Note: The Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server for the Business Critical option is only available to Enterprise Edition customers.

If you have highly-virtualized Enterprise Edition per core licenses with Software Assurance you can get four vCores in the General Purpose option for every one license core you own on-premises. This is a unique virtualization benefit available only on Azure.

Your licenses must be used either on-premises or in the cloud; however, you have a 180-day grace period during which you can use licenses both on-premises and in the cloud to facilitate migration.

No. Azure Hybrid Benefit cannot be applied retroactively.

To use Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server, you need active Software Assurance. If your Software Assurance expires and you don’t renew it, you’ll be moved to the license included pricing of the respective SKU.

The virtualization benefit is applicable to virtualized workloads on vCore-based Azure SQL Database. You can use it to convert 1 license core of SQL Enterprise Edition with active Software Assurance to get up to 4 vCores of General Purpose at the base rate. This makes moving virtualized applications to vCore-based SQL Database options highly cost-effective. For example, if you have 4 core licenses of SQL Enterprise Edition, you can receive up to 16 vCores of General Purpose at the base rate.

You are billed for each hour that a managed instance exists and for storage applied during that hour, regardless of whether the server was active for less than an hour. If you’ve scaled your database, you’ll be billed using the highest provisioned vCore during the hour.

For example:

If you create a Managed Instance server and delete it five minutes later, you’ll be charged for one database hour.

If you create a Managed Instance in the General Purpose tier with 8 vCores, and then immediately upgrade it to 16 vCores, you’ll be charged at the 16 vCore rate for the first hour.

Backup storage is associated with automated backups of your instance. Increasing your backup retention period increases the backup storage that’s consumed by your instance. There’s no additional charge for backup storage for up to 100 percent of your total provisioned server storage. Additional consumption of backup storage will be charged in GB per month. For example, if you have the database storage size of 100 GBs, you’ll get 100 GBs of backup at no additional cost. But if the backup is 110 GBs, you’ll pay for the additional 10 GBs.

Note: For a limited period, until June 30, 2018, the backup charges will be free.

There will be no additional charges for network data ingress or egress during public preview. Additional charges will be introduced at general availability.

*Savings based on eight vCore Managed Instance Business Critical in East US Region, running 730 hours per month. Savings are calculated from full price (license included) against base rate (applying Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server), which excludes Software Assurance cost for SQL Server Enterprise edition, which may vary based on EA agreement. Actual savings may vary based on region, instance size and performance tier. Prices as of December 2017, subject to change.

Azure SQL Database reserved capacity

Azure SQL Database reserved capacity enables you to save up to 33%1 compared to license-included pricing by pre-paying for your SQL Database compute capacity on a one or three-year term. It is an expansion of Azure reservation pricing, which also includes Azure reserved VM instances.

Today, customers with active Software Assurance can save up to 55% using Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server with the new vCore-based purchasing model in SQL Database. Now, with support for reserved capacity on single databases, elastic pools and managed instances, you can unlock even more savings when you combine your Azure Hybrid Benefit with reserved vCore pricing to achieve savings of up to 80%2. You can lower your total cost of ownership by combining reservation pricing with license-included prices to manage costs across predictable and variable workloads and improve your budgeting and forecasting with a single upfront payment, making it easy to calculate your investments.

1 Savings based on eight vCore SQL Database Managed Instance General Purpose in West2 US Region, running 730 hours per month. Savings are calculated from on demand full price (license included) against 3-year reserved capacity License Included. Actual savings may vary based on region, instance size and performance tier. Prices as of May 2018, subject to change.

2 Savings based on eight vCore SQL Database Managed Instance Business Critical in West2 US Region, running 730 hours per month. Savings are calculated from on demand full price (license included) against base rate with Azure Hybrid Benefit plus 3-year reserved capacity. Savings excludes Software Assurance cost for SQL Server Enterprise edition, which may vary based on EA agreement. Actual savings may vary based on region, instance size and performance tier. Prices as of May 2018, subject to change.

Azure SQL Database reserved capacity is available in all public Azure regions except UK North. If you already have vCore-based SQL deployments in UK North and would like to purchase reserved capacity for them you can open a Help+Support request and we will unblock your subscription in that region.
Reserved capacity is currently not available in sovereign clouds, which includes Azure Germany, Azure US Government, and China.

You can purchase one-year or three-year term SQL Database reserved capacity with a single, upfront payment. Reservations are available for purchase through https://portal.azure.com. The reservations menu will appear on the left pane in the Azure portal.

SQL Database reserved capacity has a scope of either a Single subscription or Shared. This scope controls how many subscriptions can leverage the billing benefit associated with the reservation, and it controls how the reservation is applied to specific subscriptions.

A reservation scoped to a single subscription means that the reserved capacity discount will apply only to SQL Database resources within the selected subscription.

A reservation with the scope of Shared means that the billing benefit for it can be shared across any subscription in the enrollment (Enterprise Agreement customers) or account (Pay-as-you-go customers) except for MSDN subscriptions in the enrollment or non-Pay-as-you-go subscriptions in the account.

The reservation start and end dates are based on the purchase date and duration of the reservation. The benefit will apply immediately to any existing running deployments that match the terms of the reservation based on where the reservation is made available, i.e. scoped to a single subscription or shared across the entire Azure account/enrollment. Otherwise, the reservation benefit will apply when you have new deployments that match the terms of the reservation.

For EA customers, reserved capacity purchases will always be deducted from any available monetary commitment first; this deduction will happen in the month the reserved capacity was purchased. In the event you do not have enough monetary commitment, or do not have any monetary commitment, all reserved capacity purchases will show on your next overage invoice.

For web direct customers, all reserved capacity charges will appear on the credit card on file, or on the next invoice if you have invoice terms established on your account.

You can view reserved capacity usage on the “Usage Summary” page under the “Reports” menu on the EA Portal (https://ea.azure.com). There, you will see a “Reservation” section that will show reserved capacity usage. In addition to this, you can find reserved capacity usage details in the detailed usage file (CSV) that you can download from the EA Portal (https://ea.azure.com). The “Additional Info” field will help you to identify the usage against reserved capacity.

Your deployments will continue running and will be billed at an on-demand rate once the reserved capacity benefit expires. You will no longer receive the price benefit for reserved capacity.

Yes, you will receive email notifications at least 30 days prior to expiration. Additionally, you can view reservation details in the Azure portal.